Many photocopiers, printers, multi-function devices (MFD) and other reproduction and printing devices now include non-volatile memory that allow the device and/or a user to store a job, such as a document image, to be processed by the device. Often, the printing device may store every job received. Many users are security conscious, and look to prevent others from viewing jobs sent to the device.
Image Overwrite is a feature that is provided by nearly every reproduction device and MFD vendor. When Image Overwrite is invoked, the device overwrites the document image stored in non-volatile memory (for example a hard drive or flash memory) when the job is complete. Currently, all image overwriting is out of the user's control. The machine typically has a policy set on it to always overwrite or to never overwrite. If a user sends a job, which includes a sensitive document, to the device and wishes to have the image overwritten, but the Image Overwrite feature isn't turned on, the user must ask a system administer to run an on-demand Image Overwrite. Additionally, the on-demand Image Overwrite overwrites the entire non-volatile memory of the device and may takes 20-40 minutes to complete. As such, a user has no method available to independently and efficiently remove jobs from reproduction devices. Accordingly, there is a need for methods and systems to allow a user to remove jobs from reproduction devices.